Christmas Memories

This week I decided I wanted to take a trip down memory lane. I emailed my mom and asked her to send me a bunch of pictures from years of Christmas past so I could reminisce, and you could all laugh at the out of style clothes and old fashioned decor. I share what I remember from the photos and what they mean to me personally. I hope you enjoy!

So let’s start this off with a tiny baby Nicole! Now I won’t lie and say I remember this photo being taken or wearing that very cute teddy bear outfit. But that wicker chair I’m sitting on stuck around for years and years after that. It wasn’t very comfortable, but it was just my size so I always sat in it. It made me feel like a big kid! I’m pretty sure if they made that shirt in an adult large, it would totally win a Christmas sweater competition!

A little farther into the future, but still definitely a glamour shot set up by my mother. However, I do look rather proud of my pretty red Christmas dress, and I must say, it is rather stylish. I also find it kind of funny that I can recognize that this was taken at my Aunt Norma’s house because of the couch? I think they got rid of that furniture set years and years ago.

Milk and cookies for Santa! Can you get more festive? You might notice that I look a bit stressed about writing the note we leave for Santa to read as he snacks. That’s because this is my last chance! The last impression the big man gets before he drops off my presents and heads on! I meed to truly shine as the nice lister I am! And I can’t show off my awesome Dalmatian jammies, so it’s all about that last note.

Tickle Me Elmo! What a classic! I got that the year that it was the “it” present, and my mom had a hell of a time getting it for me. Online shopping wasn’t exactly a thing, so she had to go to a bunch of stores to find it. I think it was worth it for this picture alone, but I also kept and loved that Elmo for years and years. In fact, I think I only got rid of him a couple years ago when my mom finally made me donate all my old toys collecting dust. Also, check out those stylin’ Banana in Pajama slippers. I absolutely loved those, and continued to wear them long after I had to squish my feet into them.

Could I look less interested in sitting with Santa? Clearly that toy I’m munching on and whatever is across the room is much more fascinating. I mean, he’s even trying to hand me a present and I just do not care. Silly child, take the gift! It’s probably a picture book! On the other hand, it’s a great picture of my mom and Mr. Claus.

Holy presents, Batman! Every year my family does a gift exchange, in which everyone draws names and buys for one other person. The budget with $100, and this is the result. A towering mountain of presents! I love this picture, not only because it reminds me of walking through the present wonderland, but all the clues that this picture is from a long time ago. Firstly, there is baby me peeking in the frame to the right. Check out those Eaton bags, a department store that closed in 1999. I also love that vintage Diet Pepsi can, which according to Logopedia, was in use from 1993-1997. And way in the back you can see the tippy-top of a very vintage television. I probably doesn’t have a stand, but instead was a huge wooden unit that sat right on the floor. Classic!

And here is a picture of my Nana and Papa. It was in their basement where we used to have Christmas every year! As you can see, my Papa loved Christmas! He had a ton of decorations that he would put out every year. A lot of them were the kind that sang a song when you pressed a button. My favourite part, is that all the ones that he had were stuffed animals, and they would make their animal’s sound to the tune of a Christmas carol. So the puppy would bark, the duck would quack, and the goose would honk. My favourite thing would be to press all of them at once and listen to the chaos.

Now there is a kid who appreciates meeting Santa Claus! I wonder if it has to do with the size of the present he brought me, but I’d like to think it’s not. Also here you can see my absolute favourite outfit to wear in the holidays: reindeer antlers and a red nose! I’ve worn that look every year for the Santa Claus parade. The only change is I switched from using red marker to red lipstick as I got older.

Not entirely sure why someone decided to take a picture of our tree with the lights off and just the flash, but here is our tree! It was pretty much decorated the exact same every year, until about last year where my mom discovered the joy of a pre-lit Christmas tree. That also means that those candy canes have been on that tree all 23 years of my life. We also have some little elves climbing the side of the tree. I used to be low key afraid of them…

The beginning of the rest of my life, the year I got my first computer! Technically, it was our family computer, but if you asked me, I’d tell you it was mine. The things I’m holding up are the sign from Santa telling me I had to share the computer and to be responsible with it. I’m also holding the disk that came with the computer to install all the super important software to use the computer. I don’t exactly look as thrilled as I remember being, but it was probably 5 am, so forgive me.

I hope you all could enjoy this little trip down memory lane! Perhaps it reminded you of your favourite childhood memories and traditions. I haven’t seen this pictures in quite a while, so I definitely enjoyed remembering these times. Christmas is so magical and simple when you’re a kid, and you can enjoy it without everyone trying to remind you that it’s a materialistic capitalist glorification of consumption. It’s just a time of giving and new toys and eating way too much food! Cheers!